Blog - The Mary Robinson Centre - a Centre for change in Ballina, Co. Mayo

Bringing Human Rights to Life - Our 2016 Schools' Programme

26/4/2016

This month, The Mary Robinson Centre began an exciting new programme to bring human rights alive in schools across the community in Mayo. We received an enthusiastic welcome from students at Gortnor Abbey, Crossmolina, St Patrick’s, Lacken Cross, and St Mary’s Secondary School, Ballina, where we spent several days talking to students about the timely issues of human rights and migration.

Students in all three schools were very engaged and asked reasoned and inquisitive questions throughout. At the end of sessions, students brainstormed ways we could improve our response to the current refugee crisis in Europe, coming up with a range of answers our leaders might learn from! We'll be sharing some of these responses on social media as we think they're too good to keep to ourselves.

A limited number of pilot sessions are still available in May, and The Mary Robinson Centre will be delighted to offer more sessions in the autumn. These talks have been designed to challenge, inspire and engage students of today - and leaders of tomorrow - on the importance of human rights. This pilot session begins with a discussion of the origins of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the significance of human rights for all of us. Talks are tailored to connect with second level students' geography and history programmes and cover patterns of migration - from Ireland's famine to the recent Syrian crisis and it's implications for Europe.

If your school would like to participate please get in touch with Natasha Price, Academic Coordinator at [email protected] or 087 971 3204 to arrange.

Protecting Dignity and Rights of Women Refugees and Asylum Seekers

3/3/2016

The EU Parliament’s Women’s Rights Committee organised an Interparliamentary Committee Meeting on Thursday 3 March to mark International Women’s Day by focussing on women refugees and asylum seekers in the EU. Presided by Women’s Rights Committee Chair Iratxe García-Pérez (S&D, Spain) and commenced by EU Parliament President Martin Schulz and Nawal Soufi, a social activist involved with helping newly arrived refugees in Greece and Italy, the day focussed on meeting the particular needs of women and girls with workshops on violence, health and integration.

President Mary Robinson opened the meeting with a speech about the need to preserve the dignity and uphold the rights of women refugees and asylum seekers in the EU:

“We cannot claim ignorance of the grave risks faced by women and girls seeking sanctuary at a time of great upheaval. We know that women are disproportionately vulnerable when forcibly displaced from their homes. Existing social inequalities based on gender roles are exacerbated as traditional support structures and formal justice systems break down. We know that women face increased risks of violence, sexual assault, exploitation and trafficking. We have heard the reports from the UNHCR and others of the increased incidence of transactional sex, as women are forced to resort to desperate measures to “pay for” travel documents on their journey. We know that barriers to reproductive health care result in increased prevalence of maternity related deaths.

“If we know all this, then is it not inhumane and unconscionable to fail to act? The violent scenes of police action against migrants at either end of Europe diminish us all. The European Union must immediately undertake a coordinated fair and robust response to secure the rights and safety of women and girls seeking asylum and refuge within our borders.“
President Mary Robinson

Participants included: MEPs Ernest Urtasun (Greens/EFA, Spain), Barbara Matera (EPP, Italy), Maria Noichl (S&D, Germany), Daniela Aiuto (EFDD, Italy), Catherine Bearder (ALDE, UK), Mary Honeyball, (S&D, UK) and Malin Bjork (GUE/NGL, Sweden) as well as members of the national parliaments such as Gisela Wurm (Austria), Anna Vikström (Sweden) and Petra Stienen (the Netherlands), amongst others.

More information on the day can be found here.

Statement from Mary Robinson on the Paris Agreement

12/12/2015

This statement was issued on the Mary Robinson Foundation - Climate Justice website. The Mary Robinson Centre and the Mary Robinson Foundation are not affiliated.

The unprecedented call for climate justice has echoed from all corners of the world and was brought inside the walls of the negotiating rooms at COP21 in Paris. We see it reflected in the pages of the Paris Agreement – even if the means to achieve it will have to come in the coming years.

Climate change is already affecting us all and the Paris Agreement adopted tonight provides the opportunity to transform our way of life to one that is fairer and more sustainable. It establishes the need to keep global temperature rise below 2oC and closer to 1.5oC. It also compels countries to act urgently to increase the capacity of communities to cope with climate change and to uphold human dignity in the face of unmanageable climate impacts.

I am pleased that the agreement is more people centred than its parent Convention, building on our growing understanding of climate change as a social, economic and environmental issue. While falling short of adopting a rights based approach to the implementation of the provisions of the agreement, the Paris Agreement recognises the need to respect and promote human rights, the rights of indigenous peoples, gender equality, women’s empowerment and intergenerational equity to achieve a just transition.

As a result, the Agreement and accompanying decision have the potential to set in train the steps needed to protect people living in the most vulnerable situations. They also provide a foundation to deal with any shortcomings which remain, including the provision of support for developing countries. This will require the continued engagement of governments working in partnership with citizens, businesses, local authorities and civil society. The inclusive process that enabled countries to come together in Paris is the key to strengthening the values signalled in the agreement so that they inform the design and implementation of climate actions over time.

In the years leading up to this agreement more and more people, businesses and civil society organisations have engaged with the climate agenda; as an issue of development, justice, rights and human security. The reference to climate justice in the preamble of the agreement is evidence that the calls of people through marches, petitions, online campaigns, music and the arts have been heard. We need to keep building this momentum between now and 2020, to translate the agreement into ambitious actions both at the national and local level.

Despite their differences, 196 countries came together to prove that a multilateral process built on trust and dialogue, and that respects the capacity of smaller delegations to engage, can yield strong results. By applying this Principle of Climate Justice, ensuring that decisions on climate change are participatory, transparent and accountable; the voices of people in vulnerable situations were heard and will be acted upon.

We have set the direction of travel in 2015 with this Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals. Together they send a strong message of hope that we can achieve a safer world with opportunity for all.

ENDS

Mary Robinson, seventh President of Ireland, President of the Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice, and the United Nations Secretary General’s Special Envoy on Climate Change

The Paris Agreement can be found here.

International Human Rights Day at COP21

10/12/2015

Today we celebrate International Human Rights Day while COP21 continues in Paris, the historic city where the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed on the 10th of December 1948. In conjunction with the Mary Robinson Foundation for Climate Justice, UN Special Envoy on Climate Change Mary Robinson has a full day of climate justice dialogue at COP21.

Climate justice links human rights and development in a human-centred approach, safeguarding the rights of the most vulnerable people and sharing the burdens and benefits of climate change and its impacts equitably and fairly. In an interview, Ms Robinson stressed the importance of including not just "words, it's the values" of human rights that are important in the COP21 agreement.

The international human rights framework provides the global norms and legal tools with which to seek appropriate, rights-based responses to climate change, rooted in equality and justice. Human rights gives us internationally agreed values and legally defined minimum thresholds around which there is widespread consensus and a starting point from which common action commitments can be negotiated and implemented. The guarantee of basic rights rooted in recognition of the equal worth and respect for the dignity of each person at the core of this approach makes it an indispensable foundation for action on climate justice.

The UN Human Rights Council has recognized the relationship between existing human rights and the right to a healthy environment and accepts that climate change “poses an immediate and far-reaching threat to people and communities around the world.” Human rights such as the right to safe and adequate water and food, the right to health and adequate housing are threatened by climate change.

"Climate change is fundamentally an issue of human dignity, and is, therefore, inseparable from human rights,” Georgetown University, Women and Climate Change: Impact and Agency in Human Rights, Security and Economic Development.

Gender Day at COP21

10/12/2015

Today is "Gender Day" at COP21 - a day to reflect on the way that men and women experience climate change and it's impacts; and to consider the contributions and knowledge that both genders bring to the table. We know that women make up half the world’s population and the majority of the world’s poor and that the differential impacts of climate change are felt more strongly in situations of poverty, violent conflict or political instability.

"Climate change exacerbates existing inequalities and slows progress toward gender equality. Gender equality is a prerequisite for sustainable development and poverty reduction. But inequalities are magnified by climate change.”
                                                              Lorena Aquilar, International Union for Conservation in Nature

Research from the Mary Robinson Foundation - Climate Justice shows that women can become disproportionately vulnerable to climate related impacts in the following ways:
• Women are more dependent for their livelihood on natural resources that are threatened by climate change
• Women are often constrained in their response to sudden onset disasters such as floods and cyclones. During natural disasters, women and children are 14 times more likely to die than men
• Women farmers are disproportionately affected by climate change because of their limited access to natural resources and limited access to information and services about climate resilient and adaptive agricultural strategies and technologies
• Women face additional social, economic and political barriers that limit their participation and coping capacity

However, without equal access to representation, women’s voices are often overlooked in decision-making and policy and programme design.   At the half way point of COP21, Gender Day is firmly focussed on women's roles as leaders, innovators and change agents in addressing climate change.

Today, in an article published in Outreach, Mary Robinson writes:
"If we are to deliver gender responsive climate action then we must enable women’s meaningful participation in climate action. This requires investment in training, capacity building and financial support. Ensuring that women’s voices are heard and their priorities supported is central to realising climate justice. Only if women are enabled to participate as equals in the design of climate policy – so that their needs are considered and reflected in these policies – will we succeed. This is why gender equality and human rights have to be at the heart of the Paris climate agreement."
                                                                                  UN Special Envoy for Climate Change Mary Robinson

For more information, see the CCAFS Working Paper, the UN Women's Fact Sheet and the Expert Group Meeting's recommendations for Gender Responsive Climate Action.

Climate Justice and COP 21

30/11/2015

The 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) commences today, the 30th of November and runs until 11th of December in Paris, France. Negotiators from 196 Parties (countries that have ratified the convention) are expected to conclude four years of negotiation with the first global climate agreement since the Kyoto Protocol was agreed in 1997.

Climate Change, understood to be the significant changes to the climate (including temperature, wind and rainfall) due to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels, is the greatest environmental challenge the world faces today. Climate change intensifies poverty, food insecurity and water scarcity - affecting those in vulnerable circumstances the most and exacerbating existing inequalities. This is one of the greatest injustices of our time.

Recent scientific data from the UK Met Office shows that 2015 is likely to be the warmest year on record - it is imperative that the global community comes together now to heed the warnings of science and preserve the world for all of us. They must set the goal of reaching zero carbon emissions by the middle of this century and keeping the possibility of stabilizing global warming below 1.5oC alive.

Global warming exceeding 1.5oC poses a threat to the very existence of some of the world’s most vulnerable countries - it is vital that this goal is prioritized. From a climate justice perspective, whether the final agreement protects the rights of the most vulnerable will be a key measure of its success.

Graça Machel gives the 2nd Annual International Human Rights Lecture in Ballina

29/11/2015

This year's International Human Rights Lecture was delivered by Graça Machel, one of the world’s leading women’s and children's rights activists who has campaigned tirelessly to champion equality for women and children. Machel is the former freedom fighter, Mozambique's first Education Minister, a founding member of the Elders and the widow of the late Nelson Mandela.

Machel’s lecture at The Mary Robinson Centre addressed equality and justice for all in our society, looking at issues in today’s world that adversely affect women and children, including climate change, political and social unrest and the current migrant crisis, and presented a different Africa than perhaps the one we are familiar with.

At the podium, Machel profiled strong female leaders who have contributed to Africa’s political, social and economic development and spoke about the level of parliamentary gender representation achieved in countries like Rwanda (63 percent), South Africa (42 percent) and Mozambique (39 percent).

However, she also notes that there is still much to do on a global level. Machel spoke of the ‘painfully slow pace’, since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed in 1948, “of recognising that this person, who is a woman, is a complete human being, with human rights.”

“Women have moved from obscurity to visibility, but we have yet to gain the influence and capacity needed to assert action that will benefit not just women, but men and women, the human family and human dignity as a whole.” Graça Machel

A discussion between Graça Machel and Mary Robinson followed the lecture, facilitated by journalist Olivia O’Leary.

More coverage of the lecture in the Irish Times and the Mayo News.

Climate Change and Displacement Workshop

28/11/2015

The Mary Robinson Centre hosted its first workshop for the academic programme on the 28th of November. This workshop focussed on the legal, humanitarian and community responses to the refugee and migrant crisis, with a discussion about the implications for Ireland and the Direct Provision system.

Over 60 million people have been displaced globally through conflict and natural disaster, and 2015 has seen higher numbers of migrants and refugees on the move than at any time since WWII, with Europe as the focus of much attention. Conflict in the Middle East and North Africa has resulted in dramatic increases in those seeking refuge in Europe, while funding cuts to search and rescue operations have led to many more drownings in the Mediterranean.

An effective official EU response to the crisis has been slow, but the tide is turning, with greater public awareness of the tragedy. Germany and Austria now show stronger leadership, community groups all over Europe have banded together to bring supplies to Calais and Ireland has pledged to welcome more refugees under the European relocation scheme.

Speakers at the workshop included:
Deirdre Campbell - a humanitarian and development practitioner with over 10 years of experience on Gender Based Violence. Deirdre worked in international humanitarian response in both Angola and Sudan and has 7 years’ experience in rape crisis and domestic violence support services in the UK and Ireland. Deirdre has been Coordinator of the Irish Consortium on Gender Based Violence since 2013.

Stephen Ng'ang'a - has been involved with the fight for justice and equality for over 20 years, both in Ireland and in Kenya. Stephen was a member of the Working Group set-up by the government to look into the protection process in Ireland. Part of the Group's remit was to examine the issues around Direct Provision services in Ireland. He will be speaking about the experience of migrants in Ireland.

Dr Ciara Smyth - a lecturer in the School of Law at the National University of Ireland, Galway, where she teaches Public International Law, International Human Rights and Immigration Law. Ciara has worked for a number of non-governmental and intergovernmental organisations in Ireland and abroad, including the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Ciara was appointed by the Minister for Justice and Equality to the Working Group on the Protection Process, which made recommendations to government about how the Irish protection process can be improved.

The women whose stories form part of the Migrant Women: Shared Experiences Exhibition also joined the workshop for an interactive discussion on life in Ireland today for recent migrants.

TED talk on Climate Justice

23/9/2015

In this compelling TEDtalk, President Mary Robinson reminds us that climate change is the biggest human rights challenge of our time. Climate change currently impacts those that are often in the poorest parts of the world the most, worsening inequality. It is crucial for all of us to work together right now to put the world track to a better future.

If we tackle climate change now, we will have “a world that is much more equal and much fairer, and much better for health, and better for jobs and better for energy security, than the world we have now, if we have switched sufficiently and early enough to renewable energy, and no one is left behind. No one is left behind.” Mary Robinson, 2015

The TEDtalk on climate justice was held as part of the TEDWomen Conference 2015, which took place in Monterey, CA, USA.

Climate Change and Displacement

11/9/2015

Delivering a keynote address ‘People and planet: shaping a pathway to climate justice in 2015’ at a climate change conference at Trinity College Dublin, Mary Robinson spoke of the climate change migrants and said Ireland had a history of generosity, collaboration and innovation.

“We are, I believe, empathetic citizens of the world. We are moved by injustice, as evidenced from the recent response to the refugee and migrant crisis. We are moved to seek justice and protect the most vulnerable.”

Ms Robinson said the people most affected by climate change had played no part in causing the problem. “They don’t own a car; they don’t have a fridge; they have no air conditioning unit.”

She argued that 2015 was a year in which people could “dare to imagine” things getting better. Referencing the upcoming UN conferences on the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Conference, she called for global co-operation now to move into a new era of sustainable development.

“We need a zero carbon, zero poverty world,” she said.

By taking action on climate change today, we could make life better for millions of people.

The event at Trinity, ‘Tackling Climate Change and Harnessing Sustainable Resources’, aimed to explore the potential of partnerships between research and industry.

For more information, click here. A report on the event from The Irish Times can be accessed here.